The Base Line: Invincible Sinner ends 50-year drought as Svitolina finds form in Rome

[p][a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4uvrMokjQz8WGXimU5ZRXq?si=x0uzqgkURaaLGYW9yXsbcg" target="_blank"][b]Click here to listen to the article on Spotify[/b][/a][/p][h2]Title winners[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik Sinner[/a] on Sunday became the first Italian man to win the Italian Open since Adriano Panatta in 1976 on Sunday, when he put [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruud-casper/zN9UpRqp/"]Casper Ruud[/a] to the sword 6-4, 6-4 to win his sixth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 title in one hour and 44 minutes.[/p][p]Ruud went into the final boosted by his humiliation of Luciano Darderi, and he also had Sinner on the back foot at the beginning of the match. However, roared on by a packed Campo Centrale crowd, Sinner never panicked and slowly but surely settled into his stylish stride against the aggressive Norwegian.[/p][p]Ruud had no answer. Sinner turned the tide in his favour with impressive depth, precision, and forceful groundstrokes from the baseline to take control of the final.[/p][embed guid="84364fcd-10ec-4504-a52e-8979baba4da1" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjCU6WbXekk" social-type="youtube" /][p]Thanks to his win, the World No. 1 became the second player ever to complete the Career Golden Masters after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak Djokovic[/a], as he has now won all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles. That feat was accomplished by Djokovic in 2018.[/p][p]With his victory against Ruud, Sinner also extended his winning streak to no less than 29 matches. The last time he lost a match was against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mensik-jakub/UFj257G8/"]Jakub Mensik[/a] in the Qatar Open quarter-finals on 19 Feb.[/p][p]Heading into the French Open, which starts on 24 May, he is now 17-0 on clay this season.[/p][image alt="Jannik Sinner's 2026 stats" id="e7c65837-5230-422a-b2e3-6f25ab8e617d" credit-line="Flashscore (Ciro De Luca / Reuters)" guid="9e0c6e7e-714f-46b7-abe0-a61323acf65e" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Ukraine's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Elina Svitolina[/a] on Saturday secured her third Italian Open title following a thrilling three-set win against Coco Gauff in the final.[/p][p]The 31-year-old recovered from a 4-2 deficit to take the first set and, despite losing the second on a tiebreak, again took control of the match to claim the decider for a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 victory.[/p][p]Her triumph in Rome was all the more impressive after recording three-set wins against World No. 2 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rybakina-elena/UDzElXdm/"]Elena Rybakina[/a], World No. 3 [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/swiatek-iga/jNyZsXZe/"]Iga Swiatek[/a], and American Gauff, who is currently ranked fourth.[/p][p]It was Svitolina's third successive victory against Gauff, as she also got the better of the American in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.[/p][embed guid="ad687ff8-641d-44c5-a9cd-5bc09f84b1d6" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNZTi6qd1Y" social-type="youtube" /][h2]Biggest strugglers[/h2][p]While it will certainly be too far to call it a full-blown crisis, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-minaur-alex/EZgZ9Xfh/"]Alex De Minaur[/a] is currently in the midst of a concerning slump.[/p][p]He won the Rotterdam Open in February, but has since struggled significantly, and he will make his way to Roland Garros on the back of a three-match losing streak, while he has only won one of his last five clay matches. [/p][p]Unusually, De Minaur's season has lately been marred by defeats against players ranked outside the top 20, including a stunning loss against the 19-year-old Spanish wildcard [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jodar-rafael/OdngshVK/"]Rafael Jodar[/a] at the Madrid Open. He then lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arnaldi-matteo/hlVLAfZK/"]Matteo Arnaldi[/a] in the Italian Open after squandering a one-set lead, and that was one of many cases of him struggling to close out matches.[/p][embed guid="cca2479f-f08d-4a43-836d-35452c29f1c3" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxWE_69-ml0" social-type="youtube" /][p]The question is whether the Australian is headed for another shocking early round exit at the French Open like the one he suffered last year when he lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bublik-alexander/t0WN9vR6/"]Alexander Bublik[/a] in the second round.  Back then, De Minaur called for the crowded men's tennis schedule to be shortened, warning that players are in danger of having their careers ended early with physical and mental burnout. [/p][p]"No one's got a solution," said De Minaur, admitting the tour grind was affecting him. "But the solution is simple: you shorten the schedule, right? What's not normal is that for the last three, four years I've had two days off after the Davis Cup and I've gone straight into pre-season, straight into the new season again."[/p][h2]Standout moment[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/darderi-luciano/jeXTxMIp/"]Luciano Darderi[/a] recorded one of the comeback wins of the season on Tuesday in the Italian capital, where he saved four match points en route to upsetting second seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zverev-alexander/dGbUhw9m/"]Alexander Zverev[/a] in the quarter-final.[/p][p]But while there's no question Darderi improved his ATP ranking this week in Rome, he hasn't received a lot of praise for how he conducted himself in the semi-final.[/p][p]Before it started, he was supposed to walk onto the court with one of the ball kids, as it has become general procedure, but he walked right past them as if they didn't even exist, while sporting a pair of sunglasses, which he wasted no time in presenting to the public before the match.[/p][embed guid="36d00faf-cb1c-4aa0-9bc7-fce2f970b21c" url="https://x.com/GaelenBet/status/2055298501890773406" social-type="twitter" /][p]While he had displayed all the passion in the world to get past Zverev, his behaviour was completely indifferent to proceedings on court as he lost 6-1, 6-1 against Ruud. During the bizarre spectacle, he seemed like he couldn't care less as he even ordered an espresso on court. [/p][p]As if that wasn't enough, Darderi also got into an on-court argument with a spectator. Down 5-1 in the second set, he confronted a fan who shouted, "We paid," by saying, "You play," as he made a gesture of handing him his racket to give the crowd at least some form of entertainment. [/p][h2]Best rallies[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/quinn-ethan/fDEtnFgg/"]Ethan Quinn[/a] thrilled the Italian crowd with a stunning tweener winner, arguably the best point of the tournament and perhaps the year, despite losing against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/llamas-ruiz-pablo/QTqDJ1gP/"]Pablo Llamas Ruiz[/a] in the first round in Rome.[/p][embed guid="c7929a51-ab98-4dff-8859-9b47f067a7b6" url="https://x.com/TennisLegende/status/2052418895143702733" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andreeva-mirra/lI6fOOat/"]Mirra Andreeva[/a] lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gauff-coco/f5BXmEH6/"]Gauff[/a] in the quarter-final in Rome, but she played amazing tennis in the first set against the American, where she won this point with a superb backhand round the net post.[/p][embed guid="5bd3f5a0-1ab9-421b-8a74-1f9845806232" url="https://x.com/InteBNLdItalia/status/2054252980627468757" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Upcoming events[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/auger-aliassime-felix/CzXh4LAb/"]Felix Auger-Aliassime[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]Ben Shelton[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-minaur-alex/EZgZ9Xfh/"]De Minaur[/a], and defending champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cobolli-flavio/zDtaCcPe/"]Flavio Cobolli[/a] are set to headline the field as the world's elite continue their preparation for the French Open at the Rothenbaum Arena at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg. Holger Rune was also set to make his comeback after his Achilles tendon injury, but his return to action has been pushed back. [/p][p]1050 km south of Hamburg, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fritz-taylor/UH09iaZ6/"]Taylor Fritz[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bublik-alexander/t0WN9vR6/"]Bublik[/a], and three-time champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruud-casper/zN9UpRqp/"]Ruud[/a] will spearhead the action in the 24th edition of the tournament in Geneva. [/p][p]On the women's WTA Tour, there will be valuable points at stake at the 250 tournament in Strasbourg, where Top 20 players [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexandrova-ekaterina/dzbgeEFF/"]Ekaterina Alexandrova[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jovic-iva/bmWvBlnL/"]Iva Jovic[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/keys-madison/QwU996PK/"]Madison Keys[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tauson-clara/2PPTHPya/"]Clara Tauson[/a], and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/samsonova-liudmila/hIA4C9YT/"]Liudmila Samsonova[/a] are set to take part.[/p][p]Finally, 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams will flock to Morocco’s capital city to compete at Club des Cheminots at the Morocco Open. [/p]